1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to vehicle accessories, and more specifically, to a vehicle accessory that is mountable to a trailer hitch on a vehicle. In particular, the invention comprises a table and umbrella assembly that is mountable to the hitch receiver of a vehicle-mounted trailer hitch.
2. Prior Art
Many vehicles have hitch assemblies for pulling a trailer. Perhaps the most common form of hitch assembly is attached to the frame of the vehicle and has a square hitch-receiving tube for releasable attachment of a draw bar and trailer. Except when the vehicle is being used to tow a trailer, the hitch assembly serves no useful purpose.
Many devices have been proposed in the prior art for utilizing the hitch assembly for purposes other than towing a vehicle, including load extenders as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,458,389 and 5,752,636, grilling or cooking apparatus as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,626,126 and 5,640,949, tool support or work platform apparatus as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,267,748 and 5,397,147, game apparatus as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,800,294, storage apparatus as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,310,100, and general utility holders for holding such items as a table or a bicycle rack etc., as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,752,639. All of the patented devices noted above have apparatus for telescopic cooperation with the hitch receiver tube on a vehicle-mounted hitch. These apparatus generally include a horizontal member that is releasably engaged in the hitch receiver, with means on an outer end of the horizontal member for supporting a work platform or other device, depending upon the intended use of the apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,752,639, noted above, discloses an apparatus removably mountable on the hitch receiver of a vehicle-mounted hitch, in which a horizontal component is adapted to telescope into a hitch receiver tube, and a vertical component is adapted to support a table or other platform.
An assembly similar to that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,752,639 is offered for sale in the Steel Horse 1998 Automotive Accessory Catalogue, page 31. The apparatus offered for sale in this catalogue includes a member having horizontal and vertical components such as disclosed in the '639 patent, but in addition to supporting a table, this publication also discloses the support of an umbrella on the vertical component.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,295,473 discloses a picnic table and umbrella combination that is supported on the front bumper of a vehicle.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,295,473 and 5,752,639, and the Steel Horse publication, are believed to be more relevant to the present invention than the other publications cited above, in that they disclose removable vehicle mounted assemblies for supporting a table (U.S. Pat. No. 5,752,639) and/or table and umbrella combination (U.S. Pat. No. 3,295,473). However, the systems disclosed in these prior art publications have structures and functions that differ considerably from the present invention, and the present invention has greater versatility than the apparatus disclosed in these prior publications, especially for its intended use.
For instance, none of these prior art devices provides a hitch-mountable system for selectively supporting only an umbrella, or only a table, or multiple tables, or one or more tables and an umbrella, as desired. Moreover, none of these prior art systems discloses an arrangement wherein multiple tables are provided in vertically spaced relationship, with at least one of the tables being freely rotatable relative to the other. Still further, none of the prior art systems discloses an arrangement wherein an umbrella is supported for rotation relative to a table, whereby the umbrella may be oriented to different positions and angularly inclined for optimum shading effect.